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player ready...Hanover Central football coach Tony Bartolomeo quipped that pretty much the only way to distinguish between twins Nathan and Sean Conlon is by looking at their facial hair — or lack of it.
Nathan Conlon has a goatee, and Sean Conlon is clean-shaven.
In past seasons, there also was a noticeable size difference between them. Nathan Conlon was heavier. But not so much anymore as both brothers anchor the left side of the Wildcats’ offensive line in their senior year.
“It’s pretty cool having twin brothers playing right next to each other,” Bartolomeo said. “It doesn’t happen too often in life.”
The 6-foot-2, 265-pound Nathan Conlon plays left tackle, and the 6-2, 250-pound Sean Conlon plays left guard. They’ve added those responsibilities to their roles on defense, where they’ve been mainstays for the Wildcats (0-2).
Nathan Conlon plays nose guard this season, and Sean Conlon is at defensive end. They bookended each other as starting defensive ends last season, when Nathan Conlon recorded 44 tackles and a fumble recovery and Sean Conlon — who suffered a season-ending knee injury near the midway point — posted 24 tackles with four for loss. They shared time at defensive end as sophomores, alternating starts week to week and rotating series to series.
The Conlons joked about learning to share everything, including a room until fourth grade, while they were growing up.
“We’re friends,” Nathan Conlon said. “It’s like a friend you’re always with. You get sick of him every now and then. But most of the time, it’s great.”
Sean Conlon, who is 1 minute older, mentioned one caveat.
“It’s all good until you get called the wrong name every day,” he said, before spinning around in a mock search. “It’s like, ‘Hey, Nathan, where’s Nathan.’”
Hanover Central hopes to find Nathan Conlon on the field going forward. He experienced swelling and stiffness in his right knee in the aftermath of the game against Indianapolis Bishop Chatard last week.
The Wildcats, who won the conference title in their debut in 2023 and shared it with Andrean and Hobart last season, certainly could do without another serious knee injury in the Conlon family. Sean Conlon suffered a dislocated right knee, a sprained ACL and a partially torn meniscus during a game against Hobart last year and was sidelined for five months.
“We can’t catch a break,” Sean Conlon said.
The Conlons will get a bit of a break from each other in the not-too-distant future. Nathan Conlon intends to go to Purdue Northwest to study construction management. Sean Conlon will attend the Southeast Lineman Training Center — no, not a place for football linemen, but a trade school in Georgia that prepares participants to work on power lines. Their older brother Adam Conlon, a 2025 Hanover Central graduate, is in SLTC’s 15-week program.
Sean Conlon, who intends to pursue a job with NIPSCO or ComEd, isn’t overly concerned about missing his twin brother.
“I’ll be fine,” Sean Conlon said. “I’ll be fine.”
Bartolomeo, who in his first season leading the Wildcats after four years as their quarterbacks coach and who also coached Lake Central from 2016 to 2020, indicated he’ll miss the Conlons after they graduate.
“They’re just great dudes,” Bartolomeo said.